Cape Town - Labour experts have welcomed the appointment of auditors tasked with probing allegations that some employers are pocketing funds due to workers.
Thousands of South Africans still await their Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) payments for May, with some having yet to receive since April.
According to a National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) survey, 21% of employers who participated have yet to receive TERS payments and of those, 55% were not paid in full.
For the month of May, 75% are still waiting for payments.
This week, Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi said while as many as 3 million workers had benefited from the R21billion paid out since April, there were still thousands more who had not received funds from the scheme.
For April, as much as R3.2bn remain suspended and unpaid for almost 725000 workers as the fund is still waiting for further details from employers.
For May, as many as 85000 workers are yet to be paid due to missing details from applications.
“It is alleged that there are companies that have not paid the workers what is due to them. We are aware of some companies allegedly loaning employees the money, and that is not legal,” Nxesi said.
“We are also aware of other companies that are allegedly paying part of the money, and not the full amount, as well as companies using the money for something else other than the intended purpose.
“If all these allegations are true, we appeal to companies to do the right thing.”
Neasa has hit back at Nxesi’s department for laying fault solely at the door of employers, and has urged its members to keep records to produce during audits.
“It seems that, according to the minister, the reason why a large number of employees have not been paid is as a result of delinquent and dishonest employers,” stated the association.
“It is not surprising that the (department) is laying the blame at the collective door of employers rather than acknowledging that the TERS system has to a large extent failed, as denial has consistently been the modus operandi of the (department).
“Employers are advised to have all documentation necessary to prove the audit trail at hand in order to show compliance.”
Labour lawyer Jose Jorge said it was morally wrong to withhold payments from employees, and those found to be doing so could face legal action.
“The problem, however, is there have been a lot of moving parts to the TERS scheme due to the nature of the declaration of the national disaster.
“It is understandable that a lot of the earlier regulations were issued quickly and left out a lot of aspects that were later amended,” he said.
“The same applies with the scheme; it did not initially cover those businesses that closed partially and other circumstances, and as a result, all these changes created a lot of confusion for employers and employees. And once employers were able to access and track payments through their ID, a lot of questions arose.
“This audit will be able to clear up a lot of the confusion; once you sift through, it will become clear that a lot of it stems from misunderstandings,” Jorge added.